I Am A Stray Pt 6

“Dante! Over here!” Ethan whispered urgently to me as I emerged from under the cars. Why is he so damn loud? I thought with panic. I can see him straight ahead of me crouched down behind a rusted old police car. But beyond the car I can see infected everywhere, and while they aren’t packed wall to wall I can’t fathom how we were going to pass them all unnoticed. “There’s no way we are sneaking past all of those infected, Ethan!” I whispered as I crawled up next to him.

“Relax” He said with a smile. “We’re going to be fine. Did you see all the places to hide while you looked or were you so caught up by all The Risen that you didn’t notice?” He laughed quietly at me. Damn it he’s right I didn’t notice anything but the zom- or “Risen” as he calls them. I begrudgingly thought. “Shut up. Let me look again.” I snapped back placing the crowbar on the ground as I turned to look. Alright let’s see what exactly there is to hide behind. Asides from the scattered cars there were sandbag barricades. “Must be remnants from when we were herding the infected here.” I muttered quietly to myself. “What was that?” Ethan asked me confused. “Nothing, I’m still looking.” I said as I continued to peer out.

There was a number of dead bodies on the bridge as well. This bridge wasn’t cordoned off with infected without its fair share of casualties. AnywaysI need to keep looking. I thought refocusing myself. There really isn’t as much cover as he would make it seem. The nearest car to hide behind was at least 50 yards away. And I can’t even see the other half of the bridge what with there being a giant bus broken down in the middle of the bridge obstructing my view. There’s no way we are making it across. I finally concluded. “Alright Dante, you got your look? Good. You saw that truck about 50 yards away right? Excellent, lets go” He grabbed my arm quickly peeking around the car before yanking me forward. “Shit, the crowbar!” I thought grabbing it at the last second.

The risen were everywhere on our left just roaming around aimlessly with their heads down. “They’re gonna see us, Ethan!” I said as loudly as I dared. “Breathe kid, and just keep going moving forward.” He said as he let go of my arm. Just a few more feet to cover. I reassured myself. “See look, no problem.” He smiled at me as he crouched down behind the truck. “How can you be so calm about this? Don’t they freak you out?” I asked as my composure started to crack. The noises they make are so unnatural. When they are just roaming around like that with nothing to chase they make these unnatural wheezy moan sounds. It sounds just like when the old ma-. “Dante.” He said as he shook my shoulder interrupting my thoughts. “C’mon kid focus. We still have a lot of bridge to cover.” He said calmly. He’s observant I’ll give him that. I thought before asking. “How far to our next cover?”

“There’s a big pile of bodies 140 yards away, but it’s not as clear a path this time.” He paused as he looked at me intensely. “I’m fine, just tell me what’s ahead of us. I don’t want to spend all day on this bridge!” I snapped a bit too harshly. But he put on a little smile before continuing “The Risen on the left side of the bridge are all mulling around with their heads down, but we have some on the right that I fear are going to notice us running by. Are you going to be able to handle yourself if you are noticed?” He was as serious as I’d ever seen as he waited for my response. “I haven’t survived this long without being able to take care of myself.” I reassured him. “Good. Then if you’re ready, let’s go!” And with a quick glance around the corner of the car again he was off. “You can do this Dante. Just empty your mind.” I whispered as I gripped the crowbar tightly in both hands.

Damn he’s fast! I thought enviously. He’s already a fourth of the way to the pile of bodies! A quick glance to his right showed an infected noticed him. “Ethan Look o-” I started shouting but he dispatched the infected with a quick jab of his knife without breaking his stride. “Alright my turn.” I muttered starting to run after him. Thankfully I’ve always been a quick runner. I’ll be alright as long as I keep moving forward. One foot in front of the other. Just keep going and you’ll be fine. Good, he’s almost there! I thought as I looked up and saw him a few yards from the pile of corpses. A quick glance to my left showed me no infected close by. Looks like a clear path ahead of me – oh shit. I stopped dead in my tracks. An infected had walked right into my path about 20 yards away, and it is looking right at me. I was still at least 60 yards away from cover. There is no way to go around that guy without attracting more of their attention. I thought, trying to analyze the situation as quickly as possible.

The thing was growling now – loudly. That throaty animal like growl that they make when they see their prey. Its clothes are tattered and ripped, and it’s skin had that sickly pale grey tone that all the infected eventually got. And patches of its skin had fallen off which was normal given that they all were essentially rotting. It was huge, I can’t reach its head with even with this crowbar. Fuck focus Dante! That thing is coming right at you! I was starting to panic as the infected was quickly closing the gap between us. “Damn it! I don’t want to do this!” I shouted running at it. Just when it was about to be too late I pulled back with the crowbar and smashed the thing in the legs as hard as I could, and down it went. I could see Ethan beckoning me frantically up ahead, and so I took off towards him without looking back.

“Good job, kid! But we don’t have time to waste now. That Risen just alerted a number of others back there and they all saw you running over here so we have to move! It’s about 60 yards that bus! Let’s go!” He shouted pulling me after him. How did I let myself get so scared! I thought angrily. “Oh shit.” Ethan said coming to halt. “What? Why are we stopping?” I asked far more loudly than I intended. He didn’t say anything he just pointed at the bus which we were about 10 yards from now. I looked at where he was pointing. “Oh that’s so not good.” I whispered real quietly as a large group of infected started pouring around the right side of the vehicle.

Post navigation

4 thoughts on “I Am A Stray Pt 6”

Wow this is intense! I think that the situation still begs for some detail, there seems to be something kind of vague about this scene. I think its the fact that the atmosphere wasnt really described in terms of the weather or even how the air felt. I dunno. Regardless this is a great addition to the story Dom!